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Van Delivery Questions and Answers

The following are general questions we have received from NSLS members in recent months about our Van Delivery service. If you have additional questions that are not listed here, please contact Larry Krenos, 847-459-1300, ext. 7149.

Since van delivery is a core system service, is it possible to devote more of your budget to delivery and less to other services and programs?

NSLS devotes more of our budget (22%) to Van Delivery than to any other program or service and this percentage has increased steadily over the past several years. We are looking to contain costs at this level. As a multi-type system, we constantly face the need to balance our services and programs in order to serve all of our members. Unfortunately, there is no one service that we can say is the most important to all of our libraries. Van delivery is of greatest importance to our public libraries and it remains a top priority for NSLS. We want to be sure that we are meeting the needs of the other library types as well.

Is NSLS cutting costs in other areas besides van delivery?

Costs for Van Delivery have risen steadily over the past several years due to increased staff hours, a rise in gas and maintenance costs, insurance and the purchase of new vans on a regular basis. Our goal is to maintain a high level of service in spite of increasing demands and diminishing funds. For this reason we need to contain delivery expenses at the current level.

In March 2007, the NSLS Board approved a policy limiting van delivery to library materials. A committee composed of representatives from NSLS public libraries, board members, and liaisons from the NSLS staff came up with the policy in response to the 105% increase in the volume of materials delivered by NSLS vans in the past five years. We have received questions about the following materials since the policy was adopted.

Library Newsletters
Sharing newsletters is very important to some of the staff at our public libraries and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to continue to do this while making the process much more efficient from a delivery standpoint. We have established a place on our Web site for posting library newsletters. Staff members can sign up through the portal and they will automatically be notified when a new issue is posted.

Ellison Dies
We will continue to deliver the Ellison dye cuts for the immediate future. We do ask our members’ help in trying to find alternative ways of delivering these types of materials whenever possible.

Laconi Flyers
These flyers can easily be delivered electronically.

Lost Library Cards, Checks
We ask members to use the U.S. mail for these items. It is more secure to mail checks and other items that fit in a single envelope than bagging them with all the books and other materials in the van bags. In addition, our State Library representative told us that the U.S. Post Office frowns on us using the van for items that would ordinarily be sent by mail.

College Class Schedules
We will no longer be able to deliver college schedules by van. College offices are often willing to mail out these schedules and they are usually available online.

CCS Notices
For the immediate future, CCS notices may be sent by van. It is our understanding that CCS members will have easier and more efficient access to these reports through a web-based product beginning in the fall of 2007.

Replacement Magazine Articles
These may be sent by van.

Donations of Withdrawn or Discarded Material

Arrangements should be made for such items to be picked up by the receiving library or boxed and shipped directly to the receiving library via UPS or other outside delivery service.

Copies of Magazine Articles or Reference Material

Whenever possible, these should be faxed directly to the requesting library to reduce handling and provide faster delivery. You may also want to consider scanning the material and sending it via e-mail.